Creating a Culture of Innovation at the World Bank

Social critic and technologist Steven Johnson believes that if we surround ourselves with different people who hold different views, we will have more original thoughts and because of this we will become innovative.

Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From, gave the keynote speech at Innovation Days, an internal World Bank event held last week at Washington, D.C. headquarters and in World Bank offices around the world. The yearly event is aimed at accelerating knowledge-sharing and learning by showcasing innovative initiatives and approaches across the institution.

Johnson told staff that just a few core characteristics, at the individual and institutional level, cause innovative ideas and creative collaboration to thrive.

To start, Johnson said, we must develop a tolerance for failure. In other words, we have to take for granted that many of our ideas will fail.

"Google is perfectly happy to fail in public all the time," said Johnson. "They created Google Wave and hoped their users would find value in the product. The users didn't, so they let it go."

Secondly we must diversify the inputs in our lives and institutions. This means surrounding ourselves (and filling our institutions) with individuals who have diverse sets of hobbies and interests, and fostering diverse social networks, where friends, peers and colleagues stretch a wide variety of vocations.

"By diversifying the inputs in your life, you create the possibilities for new connections to take root, and diverse multidisciplinary environments generate good ideas," Johnson said. A virtuous circle is formed when such individuals converge, and where the coming together of intellectual and social diversity sparks creative and otherwise unconnected thoughts and perspectives.

Thirdly, Johnson argued that the "meta-property" of innovative people is an awareness of their own talents and limitations. Innovators eagerly seek others to supplant their lack of expertise or experience.

Johnson offered observations and lessons from the past that painted an inspiring and often serendipitous portrait of how modern innovations came to exist for mass consumption.

He gave the example of the birth and evolution of the Global Positioning System (GPS). In 1957 a few young--and intellectually curious--scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology quickly discovered a way to chart Sputnik's precise orbit by tuning into the radio signals the satellite was emitting from space. As the satellite approached overhead, the frequency of the signal increased, and as it got further away, the frequency decreased--a phenomenon now known as the Doppler Effect.

By itself the discovery was interesting, but not revolutionary. However, after applying the methodology in reverse, the world ceased to be the same.

Just as you could use the Doppler Effect to pinpoint the location of a satellite flying overhead, you could also employ satellite signals to find your own location on the ground. The application ultimately led to the creation of GPS, a constellation of two-dozen satellites developed and maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The technology has had an enormously transformative impact on our world. GPS systems built into our mobile phones and automotive dashboards can pinpoint our location anytime and anywhere. Satellite imagery tracks everything from deforestation in the Amazon, to the movement of tank deployments in Sudan. GPS is instrumental in forecasting the weather. And so much more.

But Johnson reminded the audience that innovation is not simply technology at work. It's about openness - a concept and practice now embraced by the World Bank.

"Open platforms are steered by intellectual curiosity and passions in much more surprising ways than top-down government systems," he explained. "Open data and open platforms are about connecting ideas, not protecting ideas." Entire industries, sectors and professions have been created by allowing civilians to use GPS technology - far exceeding the wildest dreams of those MIT students over 50 years ago. This is what open, user-driven innovation can do.

Concluding, Johnson encouraged everyone to rethink our habit of working in isolation, even if our work is innovative. "Every time we protect our ideas we pay an implicit innovation tax. We must let them go, circulate, and collide with other innovations."

Rahim Kanani is founder and editor-in-chief of World Affairs Commentary, where he authors articles on international affairs and social change, and interviews global leaders on topics such as human rights, development, security, philanthropy, innovation, education, and more.